1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the art of household appliances and, more particularly, to the presentation of advertising information on an active visual display of a household appliance.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Manufacturers of products rely upon advertising to make consumers aware of their products. For instance, manufacturers utilize commercials, magazines and newspaper ads, advertising stickers, packaging and the like to bring attention to products. For some products, demonstration models are made available. The more competitive a particular industry, the more important it is to adequately inform a consumer as to the benefits of a product in order to enable the consumer to make an educated buying decision. On a showroom floor, it is often the knowledge of sales personnel which determines the amount of information available to a consumer on a particular product.
In most instances, a manufacturer will not desire to rely on sales personnel as the sole source of information on a product. That is, a salesperson may be busy with one customer so that he/she is not available to answer questions from a new customer. In addition, the specific level of knowledge regarding a particular product will almost certainly vary between different sales people. Under certain circumstances, a dedicated video display could be advantageously provided to convey certain information to the consumers. Even more beneficial would be an interactive display which would enable the consumer to learn about features which are of particular interest. However, providing a dedicated, interactive display is typically not feasible, particularly given the actually limited amount of available space in stores.
These concerns are particularly true in connection with the sale of appliances for household use, e.g., washing machines, dryers, dishwashers, ranges, refrigerators and the like. That is, there exists a need in this art to make automatically available, particular information concerning various features of a given household appliance in order to inform a consumer on benefits and features of the appliance. It would also be desirable to enable the consumer to interact with the appliance in order to obtain even farther details on the operation of the appliance. However, to date, appliances have not been made with control and display arrangements which enable these functions to be performed.